Spirit Speaker

The Academy was a loose collection of towers, halls, forums, amphitheatres, libraries, residences and everything in between. It played host to thousands of students studying a vast array of different disciplines, from botany to politics, to war, to economics.

 It was also the largest repository of magical knowledge on the continent. 

Students would come from all over the world to study under the many Masters that made up its considerable faculty. 

Of which I was a member. 

And technically I was supposed to teach at least one class a day, but the Board of Directors had made an exception for me. 

I was teaching the princess, after all. 

"How long has it been since you were last here?" Anna asked, skipping next to me. 

"A month? Month and a half?"

"How long have you been at the palace?"

I grinned. "About the same. My rooms at the palace are much better than my small apartment here."

"That's good. And did everything work out?"

"Highness?" 

"Your emergency last night. It was the reason you left dinner so quickly."

"Yes ma'am. It worked out. Though it kept me up all night to resolve it." I yawned. "I'm exhausted."

The early morning sunlight was warm on my back, and I could feel sweat begin to form on my neck. 

"It's going to be warm today," I said. "It's been uncharacteristically sunny recently." 

"Where are we going?" 

"We need to stop by my apartment, I left my staff behind. I didn't think you'd take to magic so quickly."

It took you a few years last time. 

"And then we'll get a wand for me?"

I nodded sleepily. "If you can find one. We might need to send for one."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll let the Archivist explain. He understands it much better than I do."

I unlocked the iron gate, climbed the stone staircase to my apartment on the second floor, and opened the door. 

The lights turned themselves on as I walked in. 

"Now, where did I put him…" I muttered looking around. 

It had been over 30 years since I had left my staff in my apartment, and he tended to go wandering. 

I heard Anna walk in behind me. 

"This is your home?" She asked, sounding a little disappointed. 

"Not what you were expecting?" I asked

"I thought it'd be…grander."

I laughed. "Not on an instructor's salary, ma'am." I began looking under couches. 

"Where is he?" 

"Who are you looking for?"

"Ilargia. My staff. He should be around here somewhere. Though he might be sulking."

"You speak as if he's alive."

I looked up at my student surprised. "Everything has a spirit, Anna. I taught you that our first day."

"Yes, but my shoes don't go wandering around on their own." 

"Good point. Magic focuses are a little different. They tend to develop personalities of their own, and the older they are, the more…eccentric they become."

"How old is Ilargia?""

"He won't tell me. Apparently, he was my master's master's master's, and she was an elf. Who knows how long she had him."

I started opening cupboards. 

"Could you look in the attic, princess?" I asked, pulling on a string in the hallway. A flight of stairs lowered to the floor. "Just be careful up there, it's pretty cluttered."

The princess nodded excitedly and clambered up the staircase quickly. I walked into my bedroom and looked under my bed. 

"There you are," I muttered and reached out to grab him. 

A jolt of electricity crackled from the stone at the top of the shaft. 

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, there's a pixie in the palace gardens you can chase." 

I grabbed him and pulled him out. 

It was harder than it should have been. 

"Stop that," I muttered and pulled harder. "If you keep forcing me like this, I'll leave you behind for good."

He stopped resisting. 

I stood up, straightened my clothes and studied Ilargia critically. 

He was a short staff, just longer than my arm, thick, and black, though that only happened the night he came to me. A clear white crystal was embedded in the wood near the top, with expertly carved, flowing leaves and vines cascading from the top to the bottom. Dwarvish runes were carved in a spiral from one end to another.

A legacy of my master.

The white crystal pulsed a dull grey. 

Ilargia was unhappy. 

- I'm sorry.

"Come on. I didn't abandon you. It's only been six weeks." I replied. "I've left you longer than that before."

- At the battle. I'm sorry. 

"Oh…that's different." I held the staff up and looked into the spirit stone embedded in the wood. 

"You remember the battle,"

- I remember. I shattered, you died, and the world ended.

"I'm here to fix that, Ilargia. And with your help, I can."

The crystal pulsed from grey to blue. Worry, fear, shame. 

"There's nothing to apologise for. If anything I failed you by asking you to do too much."

The crystal didn't change colour. 

I sighed. "Come, I have someone I want you to meet." I secured the staff to my back, with the stone visible over my left shoulder, and left my room. 

"Princess!" I called up to the attic. "I found him!"

"I'll be there in a minute!" The princess shouted back. 

"Alright, but be careful with whatever you find up there."

"Okay!"

- The queen? 

"Well, not yet, but she will be." 

The staff vibrated gently. I smiled. He was feeling better.

I sat down and waited. 

Fifteen minutes later, the princess climbed her way down. 

She was covered in dust, and soot. 

"What did you find up there?" 

She held up a firecracker, triumphantly. "I knew you had some."

"You could have just asked, Anna." 

Ilargia warmed up behind me. 

"Oh, right. Here, I have someone who wants to meet you." 

I unfastened Ilargia from my back and handed him to the princess. 

"Now, you might not be able to hear him, so I'll translate what he has to say."

The princess held the staff, wide-eyed. She examined it carefully. 

- Princess, forgive me. I failed you.

"Ilargia, she doesn't know about that yet," I said quickly. 

The staff glowered at me, the stone a dull red. 

- Hello princess. 

"He says hello." 

"I know, Lukas, I heard him," She looked at the staff. "How did you fail me, Ilargia?"

The staff flickered uncertainly, blue, red, white, green. 

- It's…difficult to say, princess. 

"Well, whatever it is, I forgive you." The princess twirled the staff in her hands, and Ilargia shone a bright gold. 

"Well, looks like you've made a friend," I said to Anna. "Now we need to go and get you your own."

I raised my hand. "Come, Ilargia." 

The staff vibrated, the stone flickering between white and black. He was uncertain. 

"She's not going anywhere, Ilargia. You'll have plenty of time with her. But I need you now."

The staff leapt from the princess's hands and floated to mine. 

I attached him to the holster on my back. 

"How do I look?" I asked. 

"Like a wizard." The princess replied. She rubbed her eyes, leaving a trail of soot on her face. 

I concentrated for a second and dumped a bucket of water on her head. 

"Hey!" She said, spluttering, soaking wet. "What was that for?"

"Relax Anna, just tidying you up a bit." 

She began to steam as the water evaporated out of her clothing, leaving her looking neat and clean. 

"There's a better way to do that." She said grumpily. 

"Not as fun though."

Ilargia chuckled from behind me. The princess glared at both of us. 

"Come princess, let's go get your wand."